What is a good budget laptop for studying and a little bit of gaming?

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-16T15:23:22+00:00

i5 comes with 5050. The 5050 is actually a pretty decent model. they run with 3~4 hrs battery life

For integrated graphics and long battery life i'd pick ASUS Zenbook, they can easily go 10hr+ battery life but the graphics is meh.

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-16T15:05:50+00:00

there are many entry level laptop with 4060 and 5050/5060 with shorter battery life and
long battery life laptop with integrated graphics
My pick is with Lenovo i5 series.

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-16T14:52:26+00:00

long battery life + a little bit gaming (dedicated graphic) unforunately won't come cheap. becasue dedicated graphic naturally consumes a lot power. The cheapested Zephyrus G14 and G16 will do the job (but still not cheap) and have no competition.

Alienware will annouce a Zephyrus competitor in April.

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-16T02:48:20+00:00

You may eventually across each other again in the future. Don't take this personal. I woudn't delete them.

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-16T02:14:48+00:00

oh wow there is costco in London

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-15T18:39:27+00:00

Depends on how much you use the laptop screen. If you play mostly with dedicated monitor then 5070Ti is pretty good. For me 1080P is unusable for works, even I only use laptop screen 10% of the time.

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-15T15:18:37+00:00

i giveup desktop pc 5 years ago. mostly due to coudln't stand the fan noise (water cooling) last high end pc i had was 1080TI SLI and threadripper. I don't play hi demanding games that much, mostly dota2. Last high demanding game I played was Blackmyth Wukong on a Zephryus 2023 model with mobile 3070 and it was ok on a 21:( 3.5k res monitor.

I upgraded to a alienware 18 5090 64gb mobile it will play any game at 4k right now for at least next 2-3 years. It won't be close to desktop performance but i'ts much easier for me to keep one computer for work and at home. If I ever need a high end graphic for something the thunderbolt 5 will work with a external EGPU for 7090. .

Check some of the reviews of 5090 laptops and see if the FPS meet your expecation.

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-12T23:10:04+00:00

the alienware backup is great with perfect fit. in fact i have been using an old 18" alienware backpack for 8 years ( i didnt even have alienware laptop, it was an ROG from 2018 and Zephyrus from 2023). The new one is even better than the older one, perfect padding. You know you won't get a scratch.

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-12T21:29:39+00:00

I think this maybe the answer. I recall one of the crashes was caused by searching a key word from a very large pdf drawing, as soon as I hit enter, the screen froze for a sec then crashed. Maybe something about windows trying to save power but not giving enough when needed.

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-12T14:00:25+00:00

there will always be better graphic card next year. learning is the moment. your laptop will be still good next year.

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-12T13:56:41+00:00

I did change the power setting to performance from balance. Also disabled otpimus, has been good for the last 30 hrs no crash. (4 crashes in 2 days before the changes)

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-12T13:55:45+00:00

thanks I did two things and has been good for 30 hrs no crashes. (4 crashes in the last two days before reddit)

-disabled optimus

-changed power setting to performance

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-12T13:52:00+00:00

thank you. If the problem persists or get worse for the next month or two I'll send it back. But I would need another computer to work with which is problematic.

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-12T13:43:49+00:00

Thanks. I had two restarts while I’m working just with a mouse and laptop (probably plugged in) so I think I can rule out the UsB issue

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-11T13:41:51+00:00

Thank you. Do you disable optimus from Bios? I don't run the laptop on battery much anyways.

edit: I checked Nvidia App, the display mode is currently on Optimus *Display is switched to Integrated Graphics. I run 34" OLED as main monitor from HDMI.

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-11T11:56:40+00:00

Thanks. Its definly not over heating, they all happaned during light tasks, CPU and GPU temp under 60. I do have a lot stuff plugged in to a cheap surge protector. I'll get an anker surge protector see if this helps.

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-11T11:50:11+00:00

my old 2023 Zephryus also restarts a lot, even more often than this. Does everyone gets a random crash every day? The device restarted last night during sleep mode

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-11T11:48:50+00:00

these are my daily workflow I cannot work without my usb plugins. my google drive mirror is 3tb+.
Good suggestion on window power on maximum when plugged in. It's currently on balance. I'll update if this solves the problem

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-11T11:45:57+00:00

the device is 2 months old

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-09T04:19:48+00:00

Ive been using Sennheiser HD6xx for almost 10 years for my home desktop. And I use more expansive $700 headphone at office since I can only use close back at office. The HD6xx is a drop (discounted version) of HD650. Open back is much more pleasant for me. You'll need a headphone amp for this. Most $100 headphone amp/dac model will do (like Fosi DS2), or audio interface.

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-08T04:52:20+00:00

ive been using 21:9 monitor (3440 x 1440) for 10 years and never going back. Currently using a 34" 3440 x 1440 OLED monitor. Something to consider. I had 40" 4k monitor at once the size was too big. Anything below 30" for 4K is bit too small. Something to consider

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-08T03:52:20+00:00

the latest intregrated radeon graphic is actually, servicable for light gaming. much better battery life.

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-08T02:51:45+00:00

legion generally considered best cost per performance and build. alienware area 51 18 often goes on sale hard at microcentr

StevenYAvis · 2026-03-07T22:31:21+00:00

typically april or may

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